"Suddenly my following on Space's Facebook page exploded and we went: 'Oh right, people are actually interested in this. OK, we could probably do something with this.'"

Turning a pet into a career

In New York, pupfluencers can bring in enough money through brand sponsorships for dedicated owner-managers to live on.

Newman told the story of Jared Kasner, a corporate lawyer who loved golden retrievers so much that he started an account, named Goldens Glee, aggregating other people's pictures of their pets. As its popularity grew, he decided he needed his own dog.

"He conducted this nationwide puppy search, and he found the perfect, most appealing, charismatic, smiley-faced, good-vibe-inspiring golden retriever," Newman says.

"Now he goes around New York with her and he asks people what makes them gleeful, which is a very important question these days.

"He takes a picture of you with his dog and the caption says what makes you gleeful. And these posts are — for whatever reason — phenomenally popular."

With hundreds of thousands of people following, the account occasionally posts a photo sponsored by a brand of dog food or a grooming spray.

This income has allowed Mr Kasner to quit his corporate job to start a social media consultancy — a path that appeals to Ms Chan, but not, she thinks, a realistic goal just yet.

She has participated in a few brand partnerships and charity promotions, but most of Space's online presence revolves around connecting Ms Chan with other corgi owners and lovers.

"We babysit the Stumpy World of Pixel on Fridays because she's Space's girlfriend," she says.

"They run around together and give each other little puppy kisses. It's adorable."

Dogs as a conduit for human interaction

Space has even participated in an emerging trend — surprising a partner with a "fleet" of the tiny dogs.

"We've had a few boyfriends planning surprise birthdays for their girlfriends, where they want to take their girlfriends somewhere blindfolded and just be surprised with a whole fleet of corgis," Ms Chan said.

"We've organised a few of those in Sydney. The girlfriend has always cried — which is amazing."

Pauleen Bennett, an associate professor of psychology at La Trobe University, said that social media for pets is one way people seek connection with others.

"They're a fun thing to talk about so they get people talking in a safe environment," she said.

"People just like to engage with other people so it's actually about building social connections with other people, but the dog is a conduit for that to happen."

Though social media allows dog owners and enthusiasts to connect despite distance, dogs bringing people together is not a new phenomenon.

"The social connection stuff doesn't just happen online. If you go walking with a dog people will stop and talk to you," Dr Bennett said.

"We know that dogs are good at connecting people through all sorts of different ways. Social media is just one of them."

It's all about personality

For Dr Bennett, anthropomorphising our pets through social media accounts is just another way of understanding them.

"Right from the beginning of being human, the people who got to survive were people who could predict what animals would do next, which ones were safe and which ones they could catch and eat," said Dr Bennett.

Ms Chan said she hadn't created a personality for Space, but just communicated what was already there.

"He's definitely a very vocal dog and he likes to make his opinion heard," she said.

"He has his own personality, which is kind of dopey, but a little bit sassy as well, and overall just really friendly."

She says this personality is the key to his social media success — though good training, making time for photography and a knack for social media are also vital. But ultimately, Ms Chan says, the important thing is Space's welfare.

"It's mostly about keeping him happy, and while he's enjoying it, we keep doing it," she said.

In her resignation from politics, Kelly O'Dwyer said she feared another miscarriage in Canberra, far from home. Her announcement is shocking for more than just party-political reasons, writes Emma A. Jane.